megan miller-am

megan miller-am - Page Text Content

FC: PORTFOLIO | French Revolution

1: On the 10th of May in the year 1774 Louis the 16th became king.he in my opinion was a very weak leader and had decision making problems. | Even though he was only 15 he married a 14 year old girl named Marie Antoinette,who was despised form a long hate of Austria.

2: By 1786 king Louis had created a lot of debt by helping the Americans beat long time French enemy Britain.The bank refused to lead the king anymore money causing the government to have serious problems.Louis then called an meeting of the estates general to try and solve the money problem.Unfortunately this bad decision,along with others he made,set the road to the French Revolution. | On June 20,1789 the estates general met with the third estate which was 98% percent

3: Three days later, they were locked out of their meeting room and met on a handball court to pronounce their Tennis Court Oath saying that they would end the absolute monarchy in France and write a new constitution. | of the French citizens lived, demanded equal representation and taxation.

4: Louis XVI faced the new Assembly and did not know what to do, as usual. Because he no longer trusted the French soldiers to be loyal, he hired Swiss mercenaries to guard Paris. The citizens were scared of the Swiss soldiers and attacked the Bastille, where the gunpowder for the city was stored. The prison was defeated, but the mercenaries never came. The fall of the Bastille, also the political prison, was a shot against the king. It has become the greatest symbolic act of the French Revolution. Today, July 14 is a national holiday in France. The fall of the Bastille also inspired women to walk ten miles to the king's palace, Versailles. The women took the king from his magnificent palace to Paris, where he would stay forever. Also, peasants all over the countryside tore up old feudal papers and attacked nobles. This wave of revolution was called the Great Fear, as the peasants thought the nobles would send troops to attack them and the peasants were starting to fill their heads with revolutionary fever.

5: The storming of Bastille was on July 14,1789.

6: August 27, 1789 - Dec. of Rights of Man A Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was passed by the National Assembly. All day in the National Assembly, nobles pronounced their support of liberty, equality, and fraternity (the slogan of the revolution). The nobles were forced to give up their special privileges from the Old Regime. This statement of revolutionary ideals gave all people the promise of the protection of their natural rights. It also granted all men the right to equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. This document granted essential natural rights to all men. It was made up of mostly Enlightenment ideas. This set the tone of the revolution. This was the starting point on the road, with even more reforms building up later on. | October 1, 1791 - Legislative Assembly Created The National Assembly had finished the constitution and had Louis XVI sign it. The National Assembly then disbanded and created the Legislative Assembly. This new assembly had the power to make laws and declare war on other nations. The new assembly soon split as some people wanted more freedom or liberties. This split in the Legislative Assembly helped prolong the revolution. France could not decide if they should keep granting new freedoms after limiting the king's power. Radicals wanted to set up a democracy and conservatives wanted to keep the current limited monarchy. This split in different directions weakened the revolution because leaders could not decide where it was headed. This caused internal weakness and allowed other countries to attack and set up internal conflicts

7: April 1792 - September 1792 - War with Austria Austria and Prussia wanted King Louis XVI back on the throne. They were worried the revolutionary fever might spread to their countries and replace their absolute monarchies with democracies. The war started badly with the poorly equipped rebel-French soldiers not able to beat the Prussians. When the Prussian commander said he would attack Paris if the royal family was harmed, a mob stormed the palace in Paris where the king was staying. King Louis was locked up in a stone tower. These attacks brought confusion to the city. There were rumors that royalists would capture the city with the soldiers gone. Mobs murdered many prisoners during the September massacre. These events led the Legislative Assembly to disband, and the National Convention started writing a new, second constitution for a republic. The French soldiers won a battle and the dangers from abroad retreated.

9: January 21, 1793 -king executed The mobs on the street ran around wild after the war with Austria. They had more power then any government assembly. Many clubs formed to give speeches and demand a republic and more freedoms. One of the more radicals clubs was the Jacobin Club. They called for the execution of the king. They successfully found him guilty of treason to the National Convention, the government at that time. He was executed with a guillotine. The execution of the king was a final blow to the royalists. The king was not coming back anymore. The radicals had succeeded in getting rid of a monarchy. Also the political clubs tried to remove each other and install their leaders or favorite forms of government. This caused further internal conflict and weakness.

11: July 1763-July 28, 1794 - Robespierre's Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobin Club, became the head of the Committee of Public Safety for the National Convention. In this role, he was free to decide who France's enemies were. Some of these people were revolutionary leaders who challenged his leadership. Other people were killed for petty things. This fear of execution was called the Reign of Terror. No one was safe from Robespierre, as he ruled like a dictator in France. On July 28, 1974 they finally executed him and brought peace to Paris. Everyone was scared by the Reign of Terror. 3,000 people were executed, most of them normal folks and supporters of the original revolution. The price of bread skyrocketed to all time highs. People were tired of the insecurities of democratic government. They wanted more stability and firm rulers

12: November 2, 1795 - The Directory in Power These new rulers were called the Directory. There were five leaders that ruled together and shared power. They were moderates not radicals. Some of them were corrupt, but gave a troubled country of period of order. When this new form of government was started, a new, third constitution was written. The Directory made the country stable again and ruled for about five years till Napoleon forced them out. They provided a break from the democratic ideas that did not work. By 1799, the Directory lost the confidence of the French people. They voted them out of office, but the army kept them in control. That changed when Napoleon was put in charge of the army on November 9th.

13: November 10, 1799 - Napoleon appointed First Consultant Napoleon Bonaparte is a general in the military. Napoleon Bonaparte was a military genius who defended the National Convention against royalists, and led successful campaigns into Italy. He then began to grow hungry for more power. His wife and he worked over all of the important people in Paris. On November 10, the assembly made him first consul by passing the fourth constitution in eight years. A plebiscite, or vote by the people approved his role and the forth constitution in eight years. Napoleon did a lot to change France. He ended the unstable revolution and provided a new, stable government. He also was involved in many military campaigns. Over all, he was so-so, but he did provide an end to the bloody revolution that ended up in a long killing spree for power. The revolution certainly ended a long way from liberty, equality, and fraternity